Sunday, April 29, 2018

Anachronistic

You don't have to push a handcart, leave your family dear, or walk a thousand miles or more to be a pioneer.

All you have to do is get a job at This Is the Place Heritage Park. Which is exactly what I did.

As I've been vigorously applying for editing jobs, I have been applying for a few other jobs as well. Recently I visited This Is the Place, and since I had visited their Facebook page, their ads began showing up in my feed.

In the past, I had thought that it would be a fun place to work, but I figured you'd have to be really lucky and/or really smart to get a job there.

Turns out the opposite is true. When I applied for the position, I was surprised that they didn't ask for a resume or even work history, besides a vague question asking about experience working with the public. When I interviewed, they were impressed and said I was the kind of person they wanted working there. They called me an academic. I'm overqualified for the position.

Yet as I thought about it after the interview, I couldn't think of a compelling reason not to take the job. It doesn't pay well. But it pays better than no job. It doesn't give me experience in editing. But neither does doing nothing. I will lose all my free time. It's not like I've been doing amazing things with my free time. I'm shy and socially awkward. This is an opportunity to strengthen my weaknesses. Additionally, this might lead to something unexpected, and I think it helps to have a larger skill set. I'll still be looking for jobs (on a more limited scale), but this will be a fun (hopefully) placeholder in the meantime.

I started work on Tuesday and received quasi-nineteenth-century clothes to wear. (So far they haven't said anything to me about my Fitbit watch.) There are different teams in the park, and I'm on the business team, which includes the telegraph office, the drugstore, the Benjamin F. Johnson saddlery, the print shop, the bank, the barber shop, and the hospital. So far I feel most comfortable in the Deseret News print shop, since I'm familiar with 1850s Utah and publishing. I actually wrote a book chapter about Benjamin Johnson, but I know nothing about saddles and leather, so that building is less comfortable to me. This week I think I will primarily be in the bank.

Anyway, I'm not sure how much is appropriate to share here, because I know sometimes employers don't like having work stuff posted, and who knows who might see this blog. Basically I sit in my assigned building and talk to people when they come in. Some buildings also have kids come in for field trips. If you want any more details, you can ask me in person.

After Earth Day last week, I also wanted to observe Arbor Day. I wanted to transplant a cherry sapling from my sister's yard, but apparently my dad likes grass more than he likes cherries, so he forbade it (even though you can't eat grass). So instead I decided to pull noxious weeds from the Wild Rose Trail.
I'm not sure what's going on in this picture. Somehow my glove got in the way.

For years I have noticed these interesting plants along the trail, but my wildflower books didn't list them. Just this month (maybe last month), I found out what they are. They're not wildflowers at all, but an invasive species called myrtle spurge. They started out in gardens and spread to the foothills. Not only do they crowd out native plants, they are toxic to animals. I wore pants, long sleeves, and gloves, but I did end up with a rash on my wrist.
I threw away five large armfuls of the stuff. (I did leave some of the pulled plants on the hillside, but at least it's dead.) Many people asked me what I was doing and were grateful when I told them. One woman even recognized that I was "purging the spurge," but she said "spurge the purge." I got the idea because apparently there's an Eagle Scout project to get rid of it on Saturday, but I will be working. One woman said she might go to it when I told her what I was doing. There is still an entire hillside covered in the plant, but hopefully the scout's group can get most of it. I have devoted the month of June to eradicating goathead plants, but maybe May should be devoted to eradicating spurge?

I spent the rest of the evening watching a holiday classic and buying a song.
"Look at my pitcher's mound! It's got a tree on it! I can't pitch from there!"
Next stop: Cinco de Mayo!

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Love Bath Daredevil Dungeon

As I was approaching my twenty-ninth birthday last year, I compiled a bucket list of things to do before I turn thirty. The list has seventy items on it, but I only have to do thirty of them.

One of the items on the list is a very hipster thing: get a record player. Now, I put this on the list not because I'm a hipster, or because I'm some kind of music snob, but rather because it might be a fun, random thing to do.

As I began thinking about whether I wanted to get a record player, it came up in conversation that my dad still had his old record player stored underneath our stairs.

So, rather than buy a new record player, I pulled out a bunch of our boxes of Christmas decorations so I could access the old one.

We don't often go that deep into our Cupboard under the Stairs, so I was amused at some of the things I found under there. Written on the stairs themselves was child graffiti, including "Love Bath Dare Devil Dungen [sic]." (It might have been "Love Bat's.")

There were hearts that said "Tammy + Dave R." and "Jennifer + Troy." I don't know who any of these people are, so this graffiti is most certainly from before we moved in in 1991. (I do have a cousin named Tammy, but I doubt it's her.)

There were some bits of trash that did belong to us: a MacFrugal's receipt from December 1, 1994,
MacFrugal's became Big Lots! and was next to Kmart. Which is now Smith's.
 a piece of a comics page from December 20, 1992,
This strip was used in the 2002 special Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales.
 and a Thanksgiving feather of things my brother was thankful for in elementary school.
"Plants to get oxegen from." Of course my scientist brother would say that.

(I put all these antiques in the recycling bin. Sorry.)

Then I pulled out the record player, and my dad helped me get it set up and working. My parents have conflicting opinions on how old it is, but it is certainly more than thirty years old, possibly more than forty.

I got out my dad's old records from the garage. He told me that most of them weren't very good because he bought them for cheap, but there were a few I recognized. I was excited to see Abbey Road in there, but it was a different record inside the sleeve; my dad says his siblings misplaced it. So the first record I heard on this record player was Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. (I have faint memories of listening to records as a small child, but it was on a different player.) It was a little strange to realize I had heard some of the songs before, yet here I was listening to them in their original medium.

I wasn't super impressed. But I figured that in order to judge it fairly, I had to get an album I was familiar with.

So on Thursday I stopped at Graywhale Entertainment to buy my first record. I wanted Lady Gaga's Joanne, but it was out of stock. But I was shocked and delighted that they had Kites Are Fun by the Free Design, a charming album of 1960s sunshine pop I found (and bought digitally) last year. They rereleased the album for its fiftieth anniversary. 
I love the music, but the album art is terrible.

I will admit, it did have a nicer sound to it than I was accustomed to. But that might have been because I was using real (but old) speakers, instead of just my computer's speakers or my Amazon Echo.

Then it turned out that yesterday (April 21) was Record Store Day, so I decided to go to a different Graywhale to get another record. I got the soundtrack to Mad Monster Party?, which I actually bought used on CD on eBay four years ago. (I spent way too much on the CD, so the new vinyl was actually cheaper, especially since it was on sale.)
This one didn't sound as nice; maybe because it was mono instead of stereo?

Anyway, here is my verdict:

Dear hipsters: There is a reason records died out. You can only listen to them in one place. You have to flip the record over halfway through the album. You cannot rip digital copies to your computer to listen to anywhere, like you can with CDs. They are more expensive than downloads or CDs. You tell me that you love the crackling and the skipping, but you cannot stand there and tell me music sounds better when it sounds worse. You have to find a place to put the player.

Nevertheless, it is fun to open a record sleeve and read the liner notes, and you can fiddle with speed. Still, I don't think it's really worth it. But I will experiment with keeping the record player out for a time, and I need to listen to all of my dad's collection before I buy more of my own. I just thought it would be a fun thing to try.

I also had an interview in Park City this week (for a job I won't take). Last year a friend told me about a sock store there and told me I had to go. So I did. It was super expensive. But I had to buy five new pairs of holiday socks. (I even had to hold back. The selection was impressive. Just costly.)
I now have five pairs of Thanksgiving socks. Six if you count the pumpkins that also work for Halloween.
Lower priority items on my bucket list are to visit every county seat and every state park, so while I was in Summit County, I went to Coalville and Echo Reservoir, Utah's newest state park. (The part run by state parks wasn't open, but I still count it.)

Other items on my bucket list were to pick up litter and to celebrate Earth Day. The other day I did a short run on the lower, inferior portion of the Wild Rose Trail, which goes between houses and by NSL's landslide. I was amazed at the amount of trash on that lesser-used portion, so I decided to pick up litter there. (My guess is most of it came from blown-over trash cans.) I took one kitchen trash bag with me and filled it up in no time. But I remembered that I had seen an identical trash bag lying on the ground as litter, so I picked it up and filled it as well.

I brought it home and divided it into recycling and trash; most of it was recyclable. There's still a lot of trash there, but there's less than there was.

I only have to do eight more things on my list, and I still have five months. But my free time will be reduced again, as my unemployed days will be coming to an end. More information to come.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Rejected Facebook posts

This blog is really the place for me to post things that are rejects from Facebook. I used to post a lot more things on Facebook (especially 2010/2011), and now when I look back, I cringe at how awkward or corny those things were.

Also, it is totally obnoxious when people constantly brag about how perfect their lives are: their myriad vacations, their perfect bodies, their fashionable clothes, their gorgeous spouses, etc. When I'm blogging about my life in general, it seems less bragging, since I'm discussing the less glamorous parts--and if people don't want to hear about it, they don't have to read it.

Not that I have anything to brag about, especially this week. So here are a few thoughts:
  • Ever since my grandparents' story was featured on it, I've been reading the blog Keepapitchinin. This week there was a post of George Q. Cannon's advice on keeping a journal. I really like keeping a journal, and I have an entry for every day since December 23, 2014. (On the rare occasions I have forgotten to write, I made up for it the next day.) After spending four years in the historical field, I really came to appreciate journals. I love that I can look back and see what I was up to at any given time. I have a good memory, but even I forget things, and it's nice to have a reminder. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to keep a journal; you can do handwritten or electronic; you can write emotionally or strictly factual; mundane things will be more interesting than you think years from now. Some advice I do have, both for your personal life and for future readers, is to put first and last names of everyone involved. Sometimes I regret not putting in names of people from my mission, and as a historical researcher I was frustrated by only partial names. This blog functions as a journal of sorts, but I like having more than one record. There are some things that are worthwhile in the journal but not the blog, and vice versa.
  • This week I saw the Leonardo museum's models of SLC buildings. I was impressed.
The temple's a no-brainer, but they also got the Assembly Hall, the seagull monument, the Tabernacle, and the visitors' centers.
  • Among trail runners, I'm not that good, but I am glad that seven or eight miles is no longer difficult for me. Street running is exercise, but trail running is a hobby.



This "rock solid buddy" also said "keep me or rehide me."


I like springbeauties. I used to think these were phlox, but now I'm 90 percent certain they're springbeauties.
  •  Desserts are officially out of season, but be on the lookout for some reviews.
  •  A year from now, it will still be Easter season, and I'm excited for that. But it's a bit premature to be excited for that, because between now and then, there will also be Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, all of which I like more than late Easters.
  • This week's unusual vegetable dish was green pea custard, which was decent, even though I messed up the recipe. It's worth trying again, though not as good as tomato zucchini cobbler. (Two years ago I made mushroom asparagus pie and quite liked it. But then a year ago I made a variation of parsnip wheat berry pie, which was not good, and so now I'm scared to do the mushroom asparagus again.)
  • I had to fill out taxes this week. I have found not one but two songs about Tax Day. One is pro-tax. The other is weally anti-tax.
  • While I was searching for those songs, YouTube reminded me of this gem my coworker showed me last fall.
  • When I heard of Barbara Bush's failing health, all I could think of was Barbara Brush.
    Courtesy

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Where the buffalo roam, where the people and antelope play

It has been on my bucket list to run to a mountain peak.

But as much as I say I love trail running, I'm really not that good at it, so most of the Wasatch peaks are out of the question.

But there was one that sounded entirely doable: Frary Peak on Antelope Island. According to the research I did, it was 6.5 or 7 miles round trip, with a climb of 2,000 feet. That's the same distance as North Canyon to Rudy's Flat, my favorite default trail, but a little steeper.

So on Wednesday, off I drove to Antelope Island. I hadn't been to the island since September 6, 2010. I even got there without using my GPS.

It was really a perfect day. It was overcast but not rainy. This would be a miserable hike in the sun, especially in the summer, because there is almost no shade whatsoever. I also hear it's very buggy, but bugs were not an issue at all on Wednesday. It was about 50 degrees, which is perfect running weather.

Lately, my body has not been cooperating with my intended runs, so I was worried I would be up on the mountain, feel sick, and have to walk down. But it cooperated this time. I also worried something bad would happen to me and I'd be on the mountain all alone, but there were plenty of people there, so I wasn't scared of that. I think Davis County's spring break enabled more hikers and families to be there.

It was a little challenging. I had to take many stops to take pictures and drink water, which are really just excuses to catch my breath. But I've been on harder trails. It would be steep, then level off for a bit, then get steep again. I wondered if I was taking it too easy, but I did pass many hiking groups.

Once I got to three miles, the trail split. From what I had read, the shorter trail was more technical and went directly on the ridge of the peak. By going to the right, the trail was safer but longer. No one is more afraid of slipping than I am, so I took the longer trail. Once I passed three miles, I did almost no running, since it was rocky, steep, and tricky. I wouldn't really say I was scared, but I was frequently uncomfortable. I was glad I had my Camelbak instead of a water bottle, because I was glad to hold on to the rocks and branches. It was about .6 miles past the three-mile mark to the top.

I made it to the peak and ate a snack before I headed down. I passed an older couple whom I had passed on the way up. The man seemed surprised I was already going down, but I made it to the peak and looked around. What else was I supposed to do? I was a little chilly at the top, because it was windy, and I had lost heat from not running. I wished for some gloves. But it was all right.

Once I made it past the more challenging portion of the trail, I ran all the way down. Rather than be selective about my pictures, I just thought I'd throw them all here.
This was pretty early in the hike. You can see the parking lot.

That is a gneiss rock.





You had to walk through the rocks in the background.






Yellowbells are out!

Most of the snow was gone.







The radio tower was at the three-mile mark. I didn't see a road leading to it, surprisingly. Past the tower the trail got more difficult.



The only snow on the trail was on this more challenging portion, which certainly didn't help me feel at ease.

They had registers in the little mail box. I broke the door off, but I think it was already broken. There was also a weather-worn Book of Mormon inside it.








I like gneissic foliation.

This might be Tintic Quartzite, which is 500 million years old.

My wildflower identification books don't tell me what these flowers are. I've seen them on a vacant lot in the neighborhood, so I wondered if they are a nonnative groundcover, but what would they be doing on Antelope Island?
After my successful run, I went over to the Island Buffalo Grill for lunch. On my way over, I passed a group of cars stopped to look at buffalo. I don't think buffalo are that interesting, since they're all over Yellowstone and Antelope Island. Then a little later, I saw an antelope running parallel to the road! I have never seen an Antelope on Antelope Island before. I slowed down so it could cross the road. I made it to the restaurant, where they had veggie burgers, my favorite food, but I had to get a buffalo burger for the novelty of the thing. Mostly it tasted like ordinary beef.

But I will have to go back sometime this summer, because it's on my bucket list to swim in the Great Salt Lake.